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Blue Skies
Written by Irving Berlin in 1926 as a last minute addition to the Rodgers and Hart musical, Betsy.

Category: Jazz Instrument: Ukulele Subjects(s): Jazz • Repertoire

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Blue Skies

Blue Skies is a popular song, written by Irving Berlin in 1926. The song was composed in 1926 as a last minute addition to the Rodgers and Hart musical, Betsy. Although the show only ran for 39 performances, "Blue Skies" was an instant success, with audiences on opening night demanding 24 encores of the piece from star, Belle Baker. During the final repetition, Ms. Baker forgot her lyrics, prompting Berlin to sing them from his seat in the front row.

The song was composed in 1926 as a last minute addition to the Rodgers and Hart musical, Betsy. Although the show only ran for 39 performances, "Blue Skies" was an instant success, with audiences on opening night demanding 24 encores of the piece from star, Belle Baker. During the final repetition, Ms. Baker forgot her lyrics, prompting Berlin to sing them from his seat in the front row.

Blue Skies is in the The Daily Ukulele 365 Songs for Better Living book.

Strum a different song every day with easy arrangements of 365 of your favorite songs in one big songbook! The Daily Ukulele features ukulele arrangements with melody, lyrics and uke chord grids and are in ukulele-friendly keys that are particularly suited for groups of one to one hundred to play and sing.

Blue Skies is on my, 2015 How About More Uke?, The Curt Sheller Jazz Trio CD.

“Curt, your CD was fantastic. You are among the ukulele masters of our day.” — John K.

Blue Skies…

In 1927, the music was published and Ben Selvin's recorded version was a #1 hit. That same year, it became one of the first songs to be featured in a talkie, when Al Jolson performed it in The Jazz Singer. 1946 was also a notable year for the song, with a Bing Crosby/Fred Astaire film taking its title, and two recorded versions by Count Basie and Benny Goodman reaching #8 and #9 on the pop charts, respectively. Crossing genres, Willie Nelson's recording of "Blue Skies" was a #1 country music hit in 1978. The fact that it became a No. 1 country song (especially by a Texan artist) was not entirely surprising as it clearly was a major western swing and country standard as a 1939 version by Moon Mullican and a 1962 Jim Reeves interpretation have shown.


Release Date: December 2, 2015

How About More Uke?

How About More Uke? — A collection of jazz standards, original compositions by myself (Curt Sheller), Chuck Anderson and Jim Beloff / Herb Otha. Featuring Curt Sheller: `ukulele, Eric Schreiber: bass and Ed Rick: drums.

10 Minute Demo of How About More Uke? CD

Blue Skies is one of many popular songs whose lyrics use a "Bluebird of happiness" as a symbol of cheer: Bluebirds singing a song -- Nothing but bluebirds all day long.

Main Song Download(s)
The main downloads for this song.
WEB_CONTENT_ONLY
Blue Skies - Melody and Chord Ukulele Arrangement

Ukulele melody and chord arrangement from The Curt Sheller Trio's How About More Uke CD.

Related Lessons
Related Lessons for Blue Skies.
UL42-7
Core Chords - The Big Six - Building a Solid Chord Foundation

The Big Six Core Chords is a series of lessons for building your core, essential 4-part chords. These chords commonly called jazz chords, are really just 4-part chords used in a wide range of musical styles. These chords include: Seventh , Major Seventh, Minor Seventh, Half Diminished Seventh or Minor Seven Flat Five, Diminished Seventh, and Augmented Seventh. These six chords form a core set of chords.

ULHA-YB-38a
Blue Skies

Harmonic Analysis (RMA) Worksheet for the Irving Berlin class song: "Blue Skies".

Related Books & Charts
Related Books for Blue Skies.
HL00240356
The Daily Ukulele

Strum a different song every day with easy arrangements of 365 of your favorite songs in one big songbook! The Daily Ukulele features ukulele arrangements with melody, lyrics and uke chord grids and are in ukulele-friendly keys that are particularly suited for groups of one to one hundred to play and sing.

A Selection of Books & Reference Charts that are recommended for creating a solid foundation with your chosen instrument and music in general.
These are books & reference charts that apply to a majority of all lessons on LearningUkulele.com / Learning Ukulele with Curt.
Learning the Ukulele Fingerboard – C Tuning

Finally, learn the names of the notes of the fingerboard.

Six Secrets of the Ukulele Fingerboard – C Tuning

Learn the six fingering principles to navigating the ukulele fingerboard. Fingering is one of the most universal topics.

Harmonic Analysis for Scale Selection and Chord Substitution

Harmonic Analysis is the understanding of the functional sequence of chords. It is the process used to analyze the harmonic structure of a progression, song or composition.

Ukulele – Reading Music Series – Primer

Learn to read single note melodies in the first/open position is a lot easier than you might think.

Daily Practice Material for the Contemporary Ukulele

An organized collection of daily practice and reference material for the contemporary ukulele player for developing the vocabulary and knowledge necessary for single note playing.

Checkout the Books for additional Handy, Dandy Reference Charts.

Reference Charts
Ukulele Fingerboard Chart for C Tuning, Low or High G - G C E A

Ukulele Fingerboard Chart for C Tuning, Low or High G – G C E A

Ukulele Fingerboard Chart for G Tuning, Low or High A – D G B E

Ukulele Fingerboard Chart for G Tuning, Low or High A – D G B E

Circle of Fourths and Fifths – ANSI A & A4 sizes

A handy reference chart of all 15 major and relative minor key signatures. US Letter 8.5 x 11 sized (ANSI-A), A4

Checkout the Books for additional Handy, Dandy Reference Charts.

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This sit has ben profesionaly red. awl tpyos aree free and no aditonal chrge • I'm blaming it on “jazz” fingers. “Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
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